Auld Lang Syne Space Cases 8
by karrenia
Summary: Goddard has more in store for him than a welcome home party forthe crew of the Christa. He has to deal with a court marital due to his nearly setting off a war with a group of space pirates.


Disclaimer: Space Cases and all related characters are the property of Nickoloden and Cinsar Productions. They are not mine. I am only borrowing them for the story.  
  
EMAIL: kareng123@attbi.com  
  
  
"Auld Lang Syne by Karen

Commander Goddard scuffed the toe of his booted feet into the pewter- colored carpet for a few seconds wondering whether or not take that old saying about military spit and polish literally. Deciding that his boots were about as polished as they were going to get, he turned his attention to tugging at the gold braid. He hated dressing up.  
  
It just wasn't his style, although he did mind doing so when the occasion demanded it. Like now. In the past three years he had only worn the full Stardog dress uniform a handful of times.  
  
"Not that I'm complaining. Be honest with yourself, Seth, if you were offered the chance to go back and do it all over again, would do anything differently?" he said aloud and looked down at the braid that he had inadvertently pulled free without realizing it. He twined it about his fingers of his right hand and for a few seconds, then casually tossed onto the bed, where it blended quite nicely with silver colored sheets. He looked at it again, debating on whether or not it was worth salvaging, and then decided against it.  
  
"Sure, there were times when I'd think what did I do deserved being saddled with a bunch of StarAcademy cadets after the dust had settled after the war. One never knows what will come to them. Would you have been satisfied with anything less than how much of adventure these past three years have been?"  
  
He faced the mirror on the back of the door to his quarters, and studied his reflection. "Not bad."  
  
'Maybe it's just that after being away for the better part of three years from the StarAcademy. Without the benefit of proper military protocol, I've let myself become too lax in certain matters.' He mentally added. As much as he wanted to push it the some back corner of his mind; and put off as long as he could, he couldn't put this off forever. After the initial warm welcome back and well-meant greetings from the StarAcademy and other branches of the Stardogs, that after their disappearance and even believed dead, there were bound to be the inevitable questions and this preliminary hearing was just the first step. He had to admit that it was pretty generous of the  
  
StarAcademy to allow each of the crewmembers time to relax, readjust and even to get back in touch with their families. Two weeks later, a staff page arrived at his quarters, and handed him a coded information packet, informing him, that a hearing would be scheduled for today at 1400 hours in the Central Inquiry Office, and that he would be assigned legal council.  
  
In the back of his mind, "Okay the two weeks grace period is up, now I have answer all their questions"  
With that in mind, he turned around as the automated door chime signaled a visitor.  
  
"Come in."

  
T.J Davenport entered; as she moved across the floor her boots made a soft swishing noise on the carpet. Her red hair had grown longer than ear-length during their short visit to Earth and was now pinned in place with an ivory comb, which matched the pewter gray color of her dress uniform. In one hand she carried her Compupad and a brown expanding file that had a few document files sticking out of it.  
"Seth, are you ready?"  
  
"Ready as I'll ever be. It's not like I didn't expect to have to eventually account for my actions, both then, and during the Spung/UPP war".  
  
"Do you believe that's what this is about?"  
  
"Why else would they send a sealed security document?"  
  
If it's any consolation, the war was a trying time for everyone, putting it mildly. With her free hand, she brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. "There were a lot of misunderstandings on both sides, especially from what we now about Andromedans."  
  
"It's not like our disappearance from the Star Academy wouldn't have caused at least, a few raised eyebrows, and more than a few questions," 


End file.
